The rest of the Czech Republic

We are always amazed when we tell people that we live in the Czech Republic and they say "Oh I know that place. I've been to Prague." We have begun to respond by saying, "Going to Prague and believing you have seen the Czech Republic is like going to New York and believing you have seen the United States!" New York is great, but to miss the Rockies, the south west and of course our favorite, the mid-west really narrows your view of the US. So for those of you who have "been to Prague" consider this:
Thursday was a holiday so we took off to celebrate Ken's birthday and headed from our Moravian home, three hours into Bohemia. Destination,.. Pisek. After a short stop in Pelhrimov for lunch of fried carp and a visit to a wonderful Gothic Church that had a magnificient baroque alter with stations of the cross painted in the style of Alphons Mucha, we arrived in Pisek in the late afternoon. We found a small pension , which dated from the late sixteenth century (even with the terrible dollar, a great price of only $56.00) in the town center. As we entered the foyer we noticed some of the plaster had fallen or been taken off the wall exposing some ancient fresco work underneath. Excellent! Our room was clean and comfortable and with a roof top view of the city.
After checking in we went exploring, just walking through the old streets and around the squares. Pisek is a curious mixture of Renaissance, Baroque, Secessionist, Art Deco, Bauhaus, and modernist Czech architecture. The old center is mostly the older stuff but the newer structures don't seem to detract and in fact enhance the look of the place. Gradualy, we made our way to the stone bridge("kameny most" in czech) over the Otava river. It is the oldest bridge in Bohemia, older than Charles bridge in Prague, and one of the oldest bridges in Europe. Only foot traffic is allowed now and it is the perfect vantage point for photographing the walls of the old city and the castle. Post card perfect. On the old town side sits a great used book store and across the bridge sits a tasty coffee and goo place where a person can sit and admire the town and the river while having a nice expresso and pastry. More walking, a visit to the local Baroqueized Gothic church, a walk in the park and listening to the Pisek jazz band playing and singing american jazz standards in czech. What a hoot! A short drive around to check out where the junk shops were, we went back to the old center and decided to risk eating in an Indian restaurant. At this point I must say that most foreign or ethnic restaurant food tastes to me like czech food with more pepper and more tomato sauce. Don't get me wrong, I love Czech food, but we really miss the ethnic variety available in most US towns. This place had real Indian cusine and it was excellent. This would be a great place for the GUPTA Society( a society dedicated to the finding of the greatest Indian restaurants in the world and tasting the food; Pam and I are both members) to gather. Back to our pension, a glass of wine, sleep, a breakfast of ham, eggs, strong czech coffee and juice then a few hours of antiquing set the coming day up nicely. We hit the road around eleven and headed for Kestrany. Our weather was big sky sunny, with rolling clouds of intermitant rain. Great broad vistas with low mountains and wide valleys look a little like south western New York state for those of you who have been there. The dandelions had turned the up-coming hay fields bright yellow, the cannola fields were just starting to bloom, the fruit trees lining the roads were white and pink with blossoms and that pale yellow-green of new leaves on the trees made the country side glow. The castle in Kestrany had only one small part restored. The rest was in a bad state of disrepair. It takes up a large area and I suspect there is no money for such a small village to restore the rest. A common problem in this country.
Strakonice. The main attraction here is a magnificently restored castle sitting on the banks of the Otava river in the center of the town. A visit to the museum within the castle proved interesting and fun and included an art show of works by a czech children's illustrator named Franta. Great stuff! One more castle to see, the famous red castle at Cervena Lhota. This one was on Ken's "A list" of Czech sites and he wasn't disappointed. Magnificently placed on a rock island in the middle of a large pond this is probably one of the most romantic views in Europe. The woods and park around complete the whole picture. It is possible to tour the interior but the imagination could come up with nothing that could compare with the exterior. It was late in the day and our exhaustion level was high so we decided to head for home, basically a two and a half hour drive. For an Iowan not too long a distance at all. This is a small country and distances are not great. All of these great sites were within a 10 mile radius and only one of many adventures available. For a while now we have wanted to tell about how we spend some of our spare time. Usually we take one day for these excursions, especially for the travels around Moravia which is the area where we live. Western Bohemia is farther away and the overnight proved interesting and fun.
And the next time someone tells you, " Oh, I've been to the Czech Republic. I went to Prague" be sure to tell them what they missed!